Working: OSHA may be falling short on protecting its inspectors

WORKING

By L.M. Sixel |
April 7, 2005

Adam Finkel was OSHA's regional director for the Rocky Mountain states when he became aware that inspectors from his own federal agency were increasingly being exposed to toxic beryllium dust.

But when he and others brought the matter to the attention of the top brass at the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, the agency refused to immediately conduct specific tests for the exposure, which can lead to a deadly lung disease like emphysema.

OSHA, which is supposed to protect the health and safety of the nation's workers, wasn't even going to tell its inspectors they'd been exposed, Finkel said in a 2002 whistle-blower complaint to federal officials.

For the workers at the BP plant in Texas City where 15 of their colleagues died last month, Finkel's experience must be anything but reassuring. Many of them believe OSHA is one of the few federal agencies that can keep companies honest on safety.

If it doesn't, the agency isn't fulfilling its obligation under federal law, said David Taylor, secretary treasurer of PACE 4-227 in Pasadena, which represents about 1,700 employees at 12 companies.

"We always felt they were our friends, that they had our back," Taylor said.

But to hear Finkel's story, that trust may be misguided.

After a couple of years of getting nowhere, Finkel said, he quietly mentioned the beryllium exposure and OSHA's unwillingness to act to a trade journal reporter over lunch in the fall of 2002. The day the story appeared — Finkel, incidentally, wasn't identified as the source of information — he was summoned to Washington, D.C.

Finkel said the then-director of OSHA told him he wasn't doing a good job and he was sending him to the National Safety Council. That's a place, Finkel said, "where they send people they don't like."

Finkel, who has a Ph.D. from Harvard and specializes in public health risk assessment and rule-making, said the new assignment was to plan a conference three years off.

"I went from 150 employees to me in a room," he said.

He filed a whistle-blower retaliation claim and eventually settled with OSHA for a "substantial lump sum" plus two years of salary. Finkel is on OSHA's payroll and went off the clock to do this interview. He made it clear he does not speak for the agency.

And, perhaps because of Finkel's efforts, OSHA's acting assistant secretary sent a memo to all employees on March 24 that said the agency began offering beryllium testing last year for its current employees who inspected industries known to use the metal.

"It's beyond ironic that this is what happens to OSHA inspectors," said Jeff Ruch, executive director of the non-profit group Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility in Washington. "Inspectors are the first line of defense in occupational safety, yet they've been treated like cannon fodder."

Tennis clubs to dental work

Beryllium is a lightweight metal used by itself or combined with copper alloy. It is used primarily by nuclear weapons manufacturers, ceramic factories and with high precision machinery. The toxic metal has also made its way into computer chips, golf clubs and dental bridgework.

When beryllium is mined, refined, ground and polished, a fine dust is produced, Finkel said. A variety of workers can be exposed, from those who work in scrap yards burning and grinding computer parts to dental technicians who adjust dental bridges by grinding, he said. And spouses can get a deadly dose through exposure from clothes they wash.

The beryllium exposure standard was set in the 1940s, and it was so high that it wasn't very common to find a company exceeding it, Finkel said. But medical literature has documented that limited beryllium exposure 10 to 100 times less than the acceptable exposure is enough to cause disease.

Only about 40 percent who test positive end up developing symptoms, which can take decades to develop. But once a disease takes hold, the victim typically dies from it or related problems.

In its memo to employees, OSHA reported that 10 of its 271 inspectors — or 3.7 percent — who have taken the blood tests have tested positive for sensitivity to beryllium. Another 31 inspectors are scheduled for testing.

That's an enormously high rate, Finkel said. He had predicted 1 percent to 2 percent would be positive, but it's looking more like 4 percent.

Ninety percent of premature deaths at work are due to chronic exposure to toxic substances, he said.

"They just don't get that there is an H in OSHA," Finkel said.

OSHA's belated testing isn't going far enough, he said. It doesn't cover former inspectors or retired inspectors or the inspectors who work for state-run occupational safety and health programs.

He speculates that OSHA stalled because it didn't want to pay for the $150 tests.

Too early

An OSHA spokeswoman said in an e-mail that it's premature to discuss whether the agency will expand the testing program.

"However, former employees can choose to seek private testing and remain eligible to apply for and receive workers' compensation benefits for injuries or illnesses that occurred on the job," according to the OSHA spokeswoman.

Taylor said he isn't aware of beryllium exposure at refineries and chemical plants.

"But if we have a situation where they're not monitoring and checking their own personnel, we have to be concerned that we don't have exposure issues in the plants," Taylor said.

"Since OSHA is in place, they're out there looking to find the places that could harm the workers. To find out they aren't, this is a real concern."